Hi Denise,
John kept preaching that the kingdom of God is at hand and we are to repent. How do we repent to what? to a higher Christ self in your mind? The NT says we are to renew our minds constantly. How do we understand what repentance mean. Of course it means change to something else because you see it that its the better way to do it? see it as freedom-I know it is harder to repent without the Spirit of God. Jesus had the spirit of God, mercy, love, kindness, gentleness, slow to anger, and so on, it opened the sinners' eyes and they were led and wanted the same thing Jesus had and was able to repent easier than the pharisees?
First off, it is impossible to repent without the Holy Spirit opening your eyes to
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3709.0.html ----------------
REPENTANCE
Repent means to turn around, to go the other way. Whatever you are doing that’s wrong and sinful and evil and carnal and worldly and everything else, you turn around, you 'repent' and you go the other direction. The scriptures mention a couple of words:
Matthew 18:3 talks about being converted
Matthew 19:28 talks about being regenerated
1Peter 1:3 talks about being born again
John 3:3 talks about being born again
What are all those things? They’re all one and the same, there’s no difference. Being begotten anew, being born again, being regenerated, being converted. They are all the same and this is what we all want to do so that we can take on more knowledge and live more Godly, and reach this goal.
We all sin. Sin has to go through three things: cleansing, repentance, forgiveness. Does anybody know the order of these things?
This is the order of what happens to sin:
1. Forgiveness
2. Repentance
3. Cleansing
God does not cleanse anybody of sins they haven’t repented of.
v
Okay, let’s move on.
So there are four things that happen with sin:
1. Committed
2. Remitted
3. Repented
4. Removed
That’s the sequence. Repentance is where you accelerate this. All through your life you learn to mature... learn to operate in society... learn to obey the laws of the higher powers and so on... stopping at stop signs... staying under the speed limit etc... You do all these things, which are admirable, we should do them. But there comes a time when you have to just stop 'doing good things' and repent of who and what you are. Then you will start to make real progress.
v
God makes vessels of honor and dishonor. He makes vessels of dishonor and then has mercy on the other vessels. Some He hardens and some He has mercy on. He has had mercy on everybody in this room. If you have never killed anybody or molested children or done any of these horrendous things. He has great mercy on your life. Now we need to be thankful for that and not assume we don’t have very much to repent of. We have to repent of what? "O man," that’s what we have to repent of.
Whatever "O man" is. That’s what we are, because "O man" is Adam. "O man" came out of Adam. Where did you come from, some place else? We’re all out of Adam. What does Adam do? "Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters" and on and on (Rom 1:29-31). Wow! This is "O man" out of Adam. This is what he does and only by the grace of God, some of us didn’t have to go that route.
v
Acts 15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
v. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
v. 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
See? Peter understood these spiritual things. He said, God PURIFIED their hearts. That’s conversion! That’s being born-again... begotten anew... regenerated... whatever word you want to use, that’s what THAT is. It was happening to the Gentiles.
http://bible-truths.com/lake15-B.html -----------------------------------
THE SCRIPTURAL PROCESS OF CONVERSION
The truth of conversion is a simple one, if we believe the Scriptures and don’t try to bring it about by some phantom free will. It is all of God.
How do the Scriptures say we become converted? Does an ounce of "free will" enter into the conversion process according to the Scriptures?
1. "Or despise you the riches of HIS goodness [‘His goodness;’ not our free will] and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God LEADS [God’s ‘leading’ is the CAUSE] you to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4). Where is the ‘free will’ in this statement? "God LEADS…" is the cause of repentance, not free will.
2. "No man CAN come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw [Gk: ‘drag’] him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). This verse is plain: "No man CAN…" come to Christ of his own will. It is the Father "dragging" him that is the cause of one coming to Christ, not his own supposed free will.
3. "You have not chosen Me, but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU…" (John 15:16). "I have CHOSEN you…" is the CAUSE and it is by Christ’s will, not man’s will.
4. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God [not faith ‘IN’ the Son of God, but the very faith ‘OF’ the Son of God—it is His faith, not ours until He gives us some of it] Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). It is not by the ‘free will’ of our faith that we live, but the by the faith OF Jesus. There is no human free will in all this.
5. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without ME YE CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5). According to God’s Word, what is it that we can do by our own will? Answer: "NOTHING." It is Christ "IN him" that brings forth much fruit. Man does not bring forth much fruit by his fabled free will.
6. "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11). Is this man’s part in his own salvation? Must man confess that Jesus Christ is his Lord by his OWN FREE WILL, or it will have no real meaning? Is that how this confession is made? Answer: "…no man can say [with his fabled free will] that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12). Do we profess Jesus as our Lord by our own will or by the Holy Spirit? "By the Holy Spirit" is the cause. Our own will is not the cause of our calling Jesus, Lord.
7. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [‘that faith’] not of yourselves [NOT of your own faith or will] it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
Are we saved through the faith of our own will? NO. Do we do good works by our own will? NO. It is: God’s faith, God’s gift, God’s Workmanship, God’s creating, God’s ordaining. The cause is "His workmanship," not our own will.
-----------------------------------------------------------
What does John mean the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus has not died yet? Kingdom of God is a manifestation of everything perfect in the mind? I have seen throughout scripture that kingdom of God is near, and kingdom of God is at hand... what does these things mean? manifestion of what is perfect and Good?
John and Christ continually said that the Kingdom of God is at hand, because Jesus Christ was there among them and He is the head of the kingdom. Christ had already started the work of bringing people into the kingdom with the disciples, even though He was not yet sacrificed, but it was already upon that generation. Christ preached of what He Himself was offering with His own sacrifice and yes indeed the kingdom was at hand with everybody that heard the gospel preached then and to all of us that read or hear it preached now, though only a very few are given eyes to see/comprehend it.
mercy, peace and love
Kat